The Directive
by RenaRoo
Summary: In the wake of Batman's death, Barbara makes a choice. One that will define generations to come in a way she had yet to even dream of. Of course, she can't do it alone. [Femslash February] [BabsDinah, CassBrenda]


Prompt: ( shobogan ) Answered! Though if I want to get more specific, renaroo pls write me an epic cross-generational adventure featuring at least four Batgirls in which Dinah and Babs are married, Cass saves Brenda through time travel shenanigans, and Steph mentors Nell.

A/N: This one TOTALLY got ahead of me but I now adore this universe and would love to expand upon it more someday bc SAGE YOU HAVE SUCH GOOD IDEAS and I'm here to serve.

Batgirl, the Birds of Prey and related properties © DC Comics  
story © RenaRoo

 **The Directive**

Bruce's death struck something in her that Barbara was not aware could be shook anymore.

Not after she had been in the line of work she was for so long.

The dismantled Birds of Prey, the death of the Batman, the flight of so many new and impressive Bats in Gotham that she barely knew what to make of it all.

She was, loathed as she was to admit it, loathed as she was to allow it to hurt her any further, emotionally compromised.

Barbara needed to pull in rank. She needed _help._

She needed to protect her legacy. Because _legacy_ – Bruce was right in that regard – _legacy_ was all they truly left behind.

Dinah opened the door. She was at least ten minutes earlier than Barbara had assumed she would have been, even using the JLA transporters. Barbara should have known she would have been – should have known _Dinah._

"I'm so sorry," Dinah said, coming to Barbara's side. "I know I'm part of the Network, I know that I'm supposed to be out there helping the chaos, but… But I had to make sure _you_ were okay first. God, Babs, I remembered the gang wars and what happened to you and the watchtower and–"

Barbara wrapped her arms around Dinah's neck, breathed in her hair. It had been too long – they had let themselves be apart too long.

"I need help, will you help me?" she asked Dinah without warning.

"You know I will, Barbara," Dinah responded without hesitation, her own arms wrapping around Barbara's shoulders. "You don't even have to ask."

"I need _you,"_ Babs said, tears streaming down her face. She pulled back enough to look Dinah in the face, to cup Dinah's chin in her hands. "I've made more mistakes in my life than I would ever admit, Dinah. But the biggest was letting you walk away – not from the team. From me. From _us._ And I need you. _God,_ I need you."

Dinah's hands tenderly found Barbara's face, thumbs brushing away the tears. "You have me. You've always had me."

It was mourning, it was emotionally compromised, it was _human,_ and it was one of the people in her life who made her the most human that Barbara kissed that night, that she proposed a new life with that night.

Of course, there was her _other_ proposal as well.

* * *

She was surprised when she learned that Cassandra was building her own Network, almost a rival to what Barbara had already established. Perhaps, more surprised than she should have been.

Cassandra had earned her stubborn streak from Barbara herself.

Alfred walked down to the cave alongside Barbara for most of the way, but he had many things to attend to – official Wayne family business, dealing with Tim's injuries, coaxing Dick, managing that Damian child that Barbara only knew in passing.

If there was anyone in the world Barbara may have trusted Cassandra's well being with after she lost the one man she saw as a father after what Cain had done to her, it was Alfred.

But it wasn't about what other people could do for Cass.

It was about what Barbara should have been doing from the beginning.

"Cass," Barbara announced herself, though she knew Cass had heard her come in and made a point of not turning away from the multiple computer screens before her.

 _That_ was most certainly a pointed gesture. Just as it was a pointed gesture that Cass was refusing to remove her full face mask.

"Helena wants to send her thanks for helping at the harbor," Barbara continued.

"Okay," Cass answered, using the cursor to click on the Huntress' file on the screen.

Barbara stared at Batgirl's back and wondered why she had let things get to that point to begin with.

"That's not the only reason I came," Barbara continued lowly. "I came to check on you. Because I'm worried about you. You were… fairly ruthless out there tonight. That's not like you."

Cassandra might have been one of the most powerful fighters Barbara had ever met, but she was marked by her gentleness, by never taking things a step too far.

That was not the Batgirl who had been on the streets that night.

"Have you let yourself cry yet?" Barbara asked. "Have you let yourself… Are you taking care of yourself?"

At that, Cassandra quickly spun her chair to face Barbara. She was still using the full facemask as a shield, a barrier between them.

That had never been its purpose before, but Cass had grown to hide behind it. She must have gotten that from Bruce.

"Why do _you_ care?" she demanded bluntly. "Why are you… _here!?"_

There were many answers that Barbara could have given, but she was only interested in giving the truth. She pushed her chair forward, closer to her former protege, to her friend, to her…

"I'm here for you," Barbara said, her own tears welling. "I'm here because I love you, and I've not done enough to show the people I love that I love them. And now one of them is gone and he'll never hear directly from me what he meant to me. And I regret it. I regret that I have to trust that he could see it in the woman I grew up to become thanks to him. I hate that I drove you away so that you don't even have _that_ from me."

There was silence, and then, reluctantly, Cassandra reached up and pulled off her mask.

Her hair was a mess – sweaty and sticking up at all ends. Choppy, like she had cut it herself recently to fit better in her mask. It was something that Barbara used to do for her back in the day. Her face was wet, which was a testament to the flow of her tears since the mask was at least partially absorbent.

But the real testament to Cassandra's pain was in her eyes. The red rimmed, the bloodshot, the sniffing nose.

"He was my… my dad," Cass said, reaching into one of the front pouches of her belt and producing a crumpled sheet of paper despite the shaking of her whole body. "He… This says it. My-my copy." She then buried her face in her hands. "Still can't-can't read all-all words. St-still so… so du–"

"Shh," Barbara cut her off, moving fast to rush forward and catch the crumbling girl, let Cassandra become a puddle in her lap. Barbara rested her chin on Cass' head and slowly rubbed circles on her back. "Shh, never say that. Never say that." She squeezed her own eyes shut. "I'm so sorry, Cass. I'm so, _so_ sorry, Cass. I can't go on without us being okay again. I can't let yo go on not knowing how much I _love_ you. Do you hear me? I love you, and I'm sorry you didn't know."

"I love you, too, B-Barbara," Cass hiccuped into Barbara's shoulder. "Love you, too. C-Can't make… can't make Network – can't make _legacy_ without you."

"Neither can I, Cass," Barbara assured her in soothing whispers. "We'll do it together. Just like we always should have."

* * *

Helena stood in the Cave. It was the first time she had been there, aware of what home it rested beneath, given the so-called honor of being a guest in its halls.

"Is this a guilt thing?" she asked Barbara and Dick as they walked her from the carport toward what seemed to be a hall of encased costumes. "Because I don't really feel like honoring someone's complex today."

She would have much rather spent her Saturday sleeping in. She had spent every night and almost every day working on keeping Gotham safe in the aftermath of– _well…_

There was a look that passed between Dick and Babs, the kind that read volumes between friends who had known each other a long time.

"Wouldn't know," Dick finally answered with a shrug. "It's part of his will."

Helena didn't have to ask whose. Didn't want to even if she hadn't known.

"Here we go," Barbara explained, waving to the case she had stopped in front of.

For a moment, Helena didn't get it, but then her eyes drifted to the suit. The emblem. The shape of the mannequin which wore it. Her look hardened and then she glanced from side to side – they were in a lane of Batman suits. Those worn by Bruce over the years, some that were worn by his temporary replacements.

And in the middle was the one she had made herself what felt like so many years ago.

Not the one repurposed for Batgirl.

 _Hers._

The one she wore when Batman disappeared at the beginning of Gotham's No Man's Land asylum. When _she_ was the only Batman to be found.

Without thinking it through, her hand came up and she touched the glass. She wasn't sure what the feeling was in her chest – but it was pride and it was hurt.

Turning back, Helena looked directly to Barbara first and foremost. "What is this?"

"Rebuilding a legacy," Barbara answered. "And making sure all the right people are honored for it – are still a _part_ of it if they choose to be."

Helena remained unmoving, waiting for more to be revealed.

"Bruce left in his will that he didn't want me to be Batman, that it could die with him," Dick explained, arms crossed. "But those of us who have taken up for him in his absence before know that can't be true. Batman and Robin can never die. So I'm ready to bear that responsibility… but to do it my own way. And to ask, respectfully, of all the previous mantle holders before me if I can have their permission to do so."

Taking a breath, Helena tried to keep her head on straight. "I… Well, I think the record shows that I was always about defying Bruce when it came to style points," she replied. She then looked to Barbara. Looked to her _friend._ Because there was more to the puzzle, still. "What are _we_ doing here?" she asked, figuring her response was more than enough to give Dick whatever permission he was looking for.

"Dick's methods are going to put him in the city more, he wants to utilize the resources Bruce had stockpiled there," Barbara answered, folding her arms before her chin. "It'd be a waste for something as technologically lavish and as important to all of our histories as the Batcave itself to go to waste."

Helena's smile grew. "You're going to give me more toys from this collection, aren't you?"

"You _do_ like toys," Babs replied wryly. "Also… I'd like to take the opportunity to let you know that Dinah and I are engaged."

" _That,"_ Helena responded with a wave of her hand,"is by far the least surprising news of this night."

* * *

The wedding was not a wedding. It was a _union._

Barbara's dad, Helena, Cassandra, Charlie, Sin, Lian, and Roy were there. Dick texted them congratulations near immediately, but what with the move, the cowl, and the newly orphaned Wayne, he had difficulties of his own getting to the courthouse.

It took a lot of tough upper lip for Barbara to not take it personally that Tim didn't come. But she knew he was suffering in ways the rest of them could only imagine.

Their honeymoon was not a honeymoon, it was a recruitment drive with Zinda at the proverbial and literal wheel.

She handed her assignments to Helena, Cass, and Charlie as they left. Dinah put them in charge of watching Sin. And then behind their backs made sure that Sin understood _she_ was in charge of watching the three of them.

"I saw your list," Dinah said in the middle of kissing every inch of Barbara. "You know that Cassandra is going to go against it and invite who she wanted all along."

"I trust Cassandra, even when we don't see eye to eye," Barbara replied, entwining fingers with her wife. "Helena's responsible."

"Helena _also_ will do what she wants and invite who she wants," Dinah argued, finally getting to the line of Barbara's jaw.

"You're right," Babs smiled. "But that's the Legacy more than anything, isn't it? Doing what your gut says is right no matter who's in charge and disagrees with you?"

"As long as you're self-aware," Dinah laughed warmly into Barbara's ear before locking their lips.

It was the best night of her life, with her high strung anxieties for once melted away by the trust she felt for each and every person around her.

It was a Legacy, not a Network. But it _was_ a network of _trust._

* * *

The least surprising person to be picked up while they were gone was Stephanie Brown.

She had been Spoiler then Robin then Spoiler again.

At the moment, she was standing off to the side in Barbara's Batcave with her full mask still on and Cassandra standing firmly by her side. As if Cass' presence was needed to show the act as one of defiance.

"We've never gotten off on the right foot, have we, Spoiler?" Barbara asked as Dinah went and had her reunion with Sin.

"I get that a lot from people who wear funny ears on their costumes," Stephanie replied. "I've been training with Huntress and Batgirl for a whole week. I trained with Robin and Batman before…"

 _Before_ was a difficult but necessary place to leave that sentence.

Cassandra was unmoving, eyes set on Barbara intensely.

Barbara did not miss the very deliberate way that she was not wearing her costume.

"You're serious then," Barbara said, folding her fingers together on her lap. "What was Helena's opinion?"

"Yes," Cass said without hesitation. "Before we even… started. It was yes."

Of course it was, Barbara should have gotten Cassandra and Helena to work together sooner. They were almost a hivemind when it came to instinctive readings on people, fighting Barbara back when she needed to be fought back, and giving her migraines in the process.

But it wasn't about them. It was bigger than that. It was even bigger than Stephanie Brown.

Steph tilted her head and looked questioningly at Cass. "Wait, yes to what? I thought we were doing this whole Birds of Prey outreach thing, right? Same as what Huntress is doing right now with Misfit and Catwoman and Question–"

"You're more important," Cass said without hesitation.

Stephanie looked back to Barbara, apparently not pleased with Cass' penchant for being cryptic.

"Stephanie Brown, we're not simply working with the Birds of Prey," Barbara informed her. "If you would like to do only that, you will continue working with Huntress and Black Canary, Misfit and the rest. You can do so as Spoiler or any identity you determine suits you best now that we're in a time of everything about Gotham being _Reborn."_ Barbara dipped her chin down, looking steadily at Stephanie from over the rim of her glasses. "But, if you're willing, Cassandra has chosen you for a deeper level entirely. For being a part of all of our legacy. To be a part of something more intimate."

Folding her arms, Stephanie tried to seem nonchalant but she was almost shaking with nerves. "Do I have to be adopted by someone? That seems to be everyone's MO lately."

"You just have to answer a question Cassandra has for you," Barbara replied, nodding to her daughter.

Cass looked at Stephanie with such meaning, such _emotion,_ it prompted Spoiler to pull back her hood and mask.

"Cass?"

"Stephanie," Cass began, "will you be… the _new Batgirl?"_

Shocked, Stephanie dropped her mask.

There was a tense silence, and then the girl let out a whooping scream before leaping at Cassandra and giving her a bear hug, lifting her off the floor and twirling around with her.

"Only a thousand times yes!" she cried out.

Barbara and Cass exchanged soft smiles.

It was Phase One. Their legacy was moving forward.

* * *

It had been too long since Barbara had sparred with Cassandra.

She was fast she was _good,_ but she went easy on Barbara. And that was her downfall. That was when she had Dinah bring Sin in and them _both_ take her on.

"Girls, girls, we're family," Barbara reminded her adopted daughters as she pulled out her eskrima. She smirked at them both as they got into stance. "That means we never hold back."

Sin made the mistake of leaning too much on Cassandra's lead. Cassandra made the mistake of being too soft toward the woman she saw as her mother.

Barbara knew all too well that she wanted her girls to live with even the toughest fighter on the streets agains them. They _both_ hit the mats at the same time.

"Wow," Sin managed, rubbing her jaw.

Cass got to her feet in one motion and narrowed her eyes. She was mad because she had lost.

Barbara couldn't help but smile.

 _Good._

"Stay back," Cassandra warned Sin before lunging forward toward Barbara.

"Okay?" Sin asked while Cass and Babs erupted into a flurry of attacks and motion.

Cassandra had no weapons. Barbara was in her chair. They fought dirty to make up for the things they lacked, and that was exactly what Barbara wanted.

Her Legacy was going to be _stronger_ than her. _Better_ than her. And her family was going to be _thrice_ that.

"I want you to sign up for ballet," Babs managed to grunt out in between hits.

Cassandra pivoted and moved into her next attack. "I don't want–"

"It's not what you want, Cassie," Barbara admonished. "It's about what's best for you. You may be mine and Dinah's daughter, but you're also one of the Wayne heirs. You'll be expected to have a more public persona, and I _also_ want you to do something that'll make you happy."

For a moment, _just_ a moment, Cassandra left an opening. " _You_ did… ballet."

The next thing Cassandra knew, she was on her back on the mats again with Barbara leaning over her.

"And we'll do it again together," Barbara said to her happily. "Because you need to be a civilian, Cassandra Wayne Gordon-Lance. And you also need a new costume and name now that Stephanie's almost through bootcamp. And unfortunately, Batwoman seems to be taken."

"Didn't want to be anyway," Cass said, sitting up and hugging her knees. Her brows knit together as she rested her chin against her knees. There were tears welling up in her eyes. "Was… was supposed to be _Batman."_

Barbara felt her heart break. "Oh, Cass… you… there could be two, if you want to–" she stopped as Cassandra made a point of shaking her head.

When she looked up, Barbara realized that Sin had been silently moving toward them all that time, her own eyes filled with tears. "Sisters," she said, also getting Cass' attention. "I am to be Black Canary. But I love you more. Please take my new name instead if it make you happy, Sisters. Please. You can take it and not cry, that would be enough for me."

Cass' mouth hung open in shock at the selflessness of the action before she reached over and pulled Sin into a giant bear hug, rolling with her on the mats. " _You_ make me not cry. _You_ make me happy, _Sister,"_ Cass said over Sin's giggling.

Babs watched them with a soft smile before Cass came to a stop and looked up at Barbara meaningfully. "Ask Huntress," she said. "I want to be… _The Bat."_

With a small huff and a smile, Barbara shook her head. "No, Cass. _You_ can ask her. When you go to tutoring tomorrow."

* * *

Stephanie came back to the cave with a hollow look to her face and a noticeable tremor in her arms. She carried herself toward the lockers all the same and slumped onto the bench in front of her locker.

But whatever energy she had used to get herself to that point seemed completely gone by the time she made it that far and she couldn't manage to even pull more than her cowl off.

If Barbara had needed the evidence that the new Batgirl was crying, she got it.

Barbara, in truth, had been waiting for one of these nights, and she hated with everything in her that it was only Stephanie's third night without Cassandra at her back.

"Oh, Steph," she soothed, coming to her side. "We can't save everyone."

"I know that," Stephanie said, rubbing at her face to get rid of the gross sobbing. "I _know_ that. But I always… I hope… if I'm good enough–"

Not letting even a single other word out of her, Barbara pulled Stephanie into a tight embrace. "You _are_ good enough, you're _Batgirl,"_ she reminded the young woman fiercely. "And when you wear that costume you are bigger than yourself, not just because of the women who came before you, but because of the person you have forged yourself to be. And we all believe in you."

"Babs…" Stephanie sniffed.

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine," she assured Stephanie. "I'm trying to run too many systems, too many people at once. The world needs Oracle, but so does the League and the Titans and Birds. But my family, my _Batgirls,_ deserve Oracle most of all."

"You can't be _everywhere_ ," Steph attempted to argue.

"I can," Babs assured her. "But I make things a mess, get overstretched." She looked up to Stephanie meaningfully. "How're you doing in classes?"

"I don't see how that's–"

"Because if you're paying attention in the you may have noticed a new classmate of yours came in later in the semester than usual. Her name is Wendy Harris," Barbara explained. "It's going to be _your_ new job to bring her _in."_

* * *

Wendy took to cipher like a fish to water, and it wasn't long before she joined Stephanie and Cassandra in joking around on the job. More Stephanie than Cassandra, of course, but it wasn't long before Wendy was able to monitor both of them from patrols on opposite sides of town at the same time.

All with Sin sitting patiently in her lap and asking a thousand questions per night about her sister's progress.

"Sorry if she's annoying while you're working," Dinah attempted to apologize as she sent Sin off to bed. "She's taken a real shine to Cassandra, both being adopted super badasses and all."

"Are you kidding?" Wendy had answered, rubbing tears from the corners of her eyes. "Speaking sister-to-sister is one of the things I look forward to the _most_ with this job."

Barbara was taking a break from her own servers to drink what was left of her most recent cup of coffee and watch the scene unfold from a distance. A distance she shared with Leslie Thompkins.

"You know that Cassandra has tendencies to be more like Bruce, God bless his soul, than almost anyone I have had the pleasure of meeting," Leslie said. "And I've had more than a hand in raising and evaluating the Boys over the years."

"I do," Barbara said, raising her mug to her lips again.

"And you're aware that closing people off, punishing herself – that comes as part of that package," Leslie pressed.

"I'm aware," Barbara said. "No one fought with Bruce harder than you, except maybe me, Leslie. I know what my daughter needs." She looked to Leslie with a knowing smile. "She needs what I learned to need when I was just the same – a team, a _family._ And that's what we've built here out of the Legacy. Everywhere she turns, even when Bruce is not there, even when _I'm_ not there, she knows there are a dozen more people who are. They need her, and more importantly _she_ needs _them."_

Leslie nodded. "Thank you for helping with Wendy Harris."

"Thank you for _everything,_ Leslie," Barbara replied. "And I mean that."

* * *

It's after ballet that Cassandra _insisted_ that they get some tea and relax together. It was something that Barbara couldn't refuse, considering that getting Cassandra to start ballet to begin with had been like pulling teeth. It was the _least_ she could have done to humor her.

Dinah was holding Sin's right hand, Cass holding Sin's left, and Charlie bouncing around and talking about, or rather _complaining_ about, the lack of capes on recent new superheroes in the magazine rags. Stephanie argued about the lack of Bats despite the magazine's supposed Gotham base.

It was downright domestic in downtown Gotham, and something that Barbara never thought she'd be a part of.

"Oh, here's the place – it opened up in that store I was considering getting to start up my floral business again," Dinah announced, pointing to the cafe.

"Alright, let's hurry in, get something to warm us up," Barbara said, trying to motion for the girls to usher forward.

"Just wants to get back to work," Cass sniggered, picking Sin up to carry her once Dinah released Sin's other hand.

" _Someone_ has to work around here," Barbara defended, leading the way into the cafe.

"Welcome to Brenda's Cafe! The special today is–" the woman behind the counter looked up and dropped the handful of mugs that were in her hands, breaking them against the counter. "Cassandra!?"

Everyone stopped at the cafe's entrance and looked in surprise at the woman.

Some of them got used to being recognized around the city – Barbara's face was known by every cop in Gotham county, as was Dinah's thanks to her own father. Stephanie had various friends from high school and college.

When Cass was recognized, it was always _Miss Wayne._ And it _never_ carried the familiarity that the cafe worker was giving _Cassandra._

Fortunately, Cassandra did _not_ drop Sin, but her shock was shared all the same.

"Brenda?" she asked. "But… Blüdhaven–"

"I thought you…" this so-called Brenda continued, walking around the counter, eyes widening. "My god, it's _really_ you!?"

Cass put Sin down and immediately the two collided into an embrace, tearful and emotional beyond anything Barbara had seen from Cass in years.

Sin moved to Dinah's side and tugged on her coat. "Sister is happy?"

"Very," Dinah replied before looking smugly toward Barbara. "But Babs isn't. What's the deal?"

Barbara couldn't help her frown. "Not that I'm turning into my father–"

"Which you totally are," Dinah snickered.

"But she has _tattoos,_ " Babs pointed out to the roarous laughter of her family around her.

* * *

It had been years. Years since Barbara took the step to grow her personal Legacy, her personal family, and nurture it the way it had always deserved.

The way _she_ had always deserved and never allowed herself to feel that way.

Cassandra had not looked as nervous on her wedding day as she had then right then. Meanwhile Sin was trying out designs for a new Black Canary outfit.

Stephanie, according to the monitors, was pulling in through the third cave system. She liked taking the long routes as Nightwing those days, it seemed. Scenic and showy for the new recruit.

"Never knew," Cass said, chewing on her knuckle. "Never knew he… had a daughter."

"I put the dots together," Barbara said sympathetically, reaching a mug of tea Brenda had made for them toward Cass. "John Robinson's daughter, like her mother, goes by her mother's maiden name. Little. And she has been a Batgirl fan her whole life – since the moment she heard stories of the heroic young woman who fought to the ends of the world to save her father's life."

"Failed," Cass said, not accepting the tea.

"Not how I see it," Barbara pointed out. "As for your pick…?"

"Tiffany," Cass said, looking to the other monitor as Charlie and Dinah came through the Manor – to Damian's eternal chagrin. The young Fox girl was curious and full of energy. "Smart. To have more than one at the same time."

"Being Batgirl isn't just about independence or worth," Barbara said calmly. "Our directive – the Legacy's directive – is to ensure that young women who make the selfless choice to put on our emblem, to better our city, to avenge the innocents who are harmed, receive the vital support and training they need to do so." She looked proudly at the woman her daughter had become. "That's what the Birds of Prey is. That's what the Legacy is."

Cass smiled proudly back. "We're Batgirl."


End file.
